TEMPO.CO, Pekanbaru - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Friday, September 4, said haze pollution from forest and land fires have now blanketed almost the entire area of Sumatra island, with the potential to blow to neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
"From the data Friday morning, almost all of Sumatra is covered by haze, from South Sumatra, Jambi, West Sumatra, Riau, Medan to Aceh," said Head of Pekanbaru BMKG station, Sugarin said.
Forest and land fires on a large scale like this happens almost every year. Sugarin said only a small area is relatively clean from haze pollution, including portions in Lampung and Bengkulu.
Visibility in Pekanbaru is only about 700 meters. In the city of Pekanbaru air quality at dangerous levels.
Based on Terra and Aqua satellites observations at 5 am local time, he said there were 362 hotspots in Sumatra.
Most fire hotspots are distributed in South Sumatra with 173 points, 148 points in Jambi, 31 points in Riau, eight points in Bangka Belitung, and Lampung and West Sumatra with each one point.
ANTARA
